April

After writing "March", I felt really inspired to write a poem about each month of the year (hopefully I will be able to stay faithful to writing at least once month!). Here is my poem on April, if you live in Texas, you will totally be able to relate!

April

April showers bring May flowers,
They say.
I say,
One minute it is hot,
One minute it is cold,
One minute it is raining,
One minute it's a desert.
The weather is a - changing,
And I never can tell
If I should put away space heaters
Or bring out my blankets!
Will someone please tell me,
What season we are in,
I can't tell for myself-
But surely someone can!

Tree Farm Beginnings!

I can hardly believe all the work that we have done on our tree farm, which, we have decided to name "Sorelle Tree Farm!" So many things have happened in the past few days. In fact, to tell all that we have done, I am going to start at the very beginning of my visit to Mineola, and retrace my steps all the way back to today.
Let's start at Wednesday. On Wednesday, we arrived at a filthy, dusty, grimy house. Luckily for us, my mom had expected this, she had completely stocked up on cleaners, disinfectants, rags, towels, bleach, and scrubbers. Yay mom! That day, we sprayed, scrubbed, wiped, and greatly improved the whole house. However, we still have quite a bit to do.
The next day, we had 50 cubic yards of dirt delivered. It was really cool to watch the big truck drive in and slide it's floors back and forth to push out the dirt! My dad used his new tractor to tear weeds and shrubs off the back house walls. We loaded the trailer with these shrubs a dumped them into a pile, which we will hopefully soon burn.
On Friday, we drove to Ada, Oklahoma. Here, we bought and loaded 1,000 potted trees onto a rental truck! We bought a bunch of different kinds: Spanish White Oak, Chinese Pistachio, Bald Cypress, Crete Myrtle, Sawtooth Oak, Loblolly Pine, and Southern Red Oak. This took pretty much all day, so we didn't get anything else done.
Yesterday, our friend, Mr. Mike Little, came over. This guy is practically superman! He helped us load up the trailer and drive all of the brush that my dad tore off the walls of the house into the fire pile. He also helped us pile up all of the broken brick that was laying around the house into a nice little pile. After this, we all unloaded the big truck that had taken the trees from Ada to Mineola. It was much easier unloading the trees than it had been to load them! We divided them up into species and placed them in ten tree by ten tree squares, it's a lot harder than it sounds! By this time, we were completely worn out, so we simply returned the u-haul truck, and called it a day.
Today, we are expecting some huge storms and tornadoes, so we didn't have a lot of time to work. Dad once again used his tractor to pull weeds and shrubs off the walls of the house, these weeds followed their brothers and sisters and were unmercifully loaded up into the fire pile. We are praying that our trees, which we have loaded into a shed, will not be ruined by the storms. In fact, to ensure this, instead of going home today, we will stay yet another night.
Being a country girl is a lot of work, but thankfully, I enjoy it! And even though there will be days when I will be tempted to grumble, I know that I can always turn to the Lord, for He alone can supply me with perseverance and strength.

Animal Farm

George Orwell, the writer of Animal Farm, wrote this amazing book to mock the Russian government at the time of the Russian Revolution.  He begins his story with Old Major, an elderly pig. Right before his death, Old Major inspires the animals of Manor Farm to rebel against their mistreating owner, Jones. When they finally accomplished this, they renamed the land Animal Farm and began to govern themselves. The pigs, the smarter class, soon rose above the other animals, breaking a commandment clearly stating that all animals are to be equal. In the beginning of their revolution the animals wrote a list of rules which were to be strictly followed. They were known as the "Seven Commandments". Sadly, bit by bit, these rules were changed by the pigs. They realized that since they were smarter than all the other animals, they could rule them without interference. Slowly but surely, the pigs rose above the other animals, they became the "elite" class. This elite class, made up of 100% pigs, soon became the "ruling" class. By this time, the pigs had officially taken over the farm. However, they did so in a way which blinded the other animal's eyes, not letting them see what was really happening. Napoleon and Snowball, the smartest of animals, were constant rivals and were continually against each other in court. Whenever one wanted one thing, the other was sure to oppose it. Soon, Napoleon kicked out Snowball. By means of his dogs, who he had trained to obey at a single word. Napoleon then gained supreme rule over the farm. Sadly, the animals were too stupid to notice that he was doing so. The animals worked harder than ever under Napoleon. Building, rebuilding, and rebuilding yet again the seemingly unachievable windmill, while at the same time working hard to get the crops in. The animals worked tirelessly, their rations were low, they were cold in the winter and bothered by the flies in the summer. Yet, through all their sufferings and trials the pigs still had the animal's confidence and were to keep it for a long time. The story goes on to tell how the pigs eventually are turned into humans because of their desire to be just like them. This book has a wonderful point: if we want to govern ourselves correctly, we must have a good sense of judgment and true knowledge. With this, we can make choices and discern whether others are leading us or tyrannizing over us.  This knowledge and sense of judgment will not only impact your life, but everyone that is around you for as long as you live.